1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for cleaning paint brushes, and more specifically to an artist's paint brush cleaning apparatus providing replenishment of the cleaning solvent and holding facilities for the contaminated solvent.
2. Description of Prior Art
An artist working in the areas of oil, water color, or acrylic mediums will frequently need to make complete color changes which will necessitate the cleansing of their brushes. A thorough and complete cleaning of a brush is important to prevent color contamination from the old color to the new color. The brush is typically washed with a cleaning solvent, i.e., water or turpentine, and the brush immersed within the solvent which is confined to a tin or pan container, of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,901,861 to I. S. Baker. After the first color change., the solvent is contaminated with the color material from the brush which requires dumping of the old solvent and new solvent supplied or contamination of the brush occurs during the next cleaning process. Multiple tins of solvent as taught by Baker permits more than one color change, however, having multiple containers of solvent in the immediate work area is problematic and ultimately the artist must stop painting and dump the old solvent and refill the tins with fresh solvent.
An artist's kit contains multiple solvent containers as further shown in Fredley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,267, however, ultimately the artist must again stop painting and empty the containers or otherwise risk contamination of the brush. The disposal of the contaminated solvent can be problematic in that, it simply cannot be thrown without due consideration for the immediately surrounding area. A separate container is required by Fredley and Baker to hold the contaminated solvent until proper and final disposal occurs.
The art further teaches the use of multiple washings wherein the brush would initially be washed in a tin holding contaminated solvent and then subsequently washed one or more times in tins wherein the solvent is less contaminated. This washing cycle ultimately attempts to provide a brush free of color contaminants. The previous problems associated with multiple tins holding solvents can still be problematic.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a means for multiple washings of the artist's brush utilizing non-contaminated solvent during each cleansing process.
It is the further object of the present invention to permit multiple washings of the artist's brush without having to stop the painting process and refill the pans holding the solvent.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a means of holding the contaminated solvent until final disposal can occur.
It is another object of the present invention to remove the need for multiple washings of the brush in order to provide the brush free of color contaminants.
The above and many other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully understood from the ensuing detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which should be considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.